Efficient Power at Ratcliffe-on-Soar
E.ON has installed two large WEG motors at its Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station near Nottingham. Both motors have been installed in the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant.
The motors had to be energy efficiency and reduce the current maintenance requirement. Chris Bennett, a senior electrical engineer at Ratcliffe, said: "[Most] important is minimising the environmental impact of the power station and ensuring the reliability of the plant; outages have to be avoided where possible so critical equipment such as the motors have to be reliable."
The first motor to be installed is a 6150kW, 10 pole, 11kV WEG M-line MGF 1000 unit which is used to drive the booster fan on the FGD plant. The motor is an IEC 1000 frame size with an output torque of over 100,000Nm and is the largest of the WEG motors currently installed at the power station. The booster fan is used to power the flue gas through the FGD plant.
The second motor installed is also a MGF high-voltage unit from WEG's M-Line but it has a smaller 750kW, 4 pole, 3.3kV motor. This motor drives an absorber recirculation pump on one of the FGD towers. These pumps are used to transfer up to 8,000 tonnes of limestone slurry an hour to the top of the 50m high towers to be sprayed into the flue gas.
Ratcliffe Power Station is recognised as one of the most efficient coal fired power stations in the UK and this played an important part in specifying the WEG motors, both are highly efficient, the larger unit up to 96.4% at peak efficiency. The smaller motor is just 1 percent lower at 95.4% efficiency.
Bennett said: "It was important that we install robust motors as they are running continuously on a high load in conditions that can become harsh at times."
